Improvement in fire-escapes



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J. F. HBSON.

Improvement in Fire-Escapes.

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UNITED STATES JOHN F. HOBSON, OF NEWBURG, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT IN FIRE-ESCAPES.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 129,410, dated July 16, 1872.

To all lwhom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN F. HOBSON, of Newburg, in the county of Cuyahoga andState of Ohio, have invented a certain new and Improved Fire-Escape, Ste.; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and complete description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing making part of the same.

SPECIFICATION.

Figure 1 is a view of the escape, Sac., while in use. Fig. 2 is a side view of the inside. Fig. 3 is a side view of the outside. Fig. 4 is a side view, having the rope detached therefrom.

Like letters of reference refer to like parts in the several views.

The object of this invention is to provide an easy and safe means of escape for persons in the upper stories of a building while it may be on fire, and thereby oifer avenues of escape for the persons cut off, the construction and practical operation of which are as follows:

In the drawing, Fig. 4, A B represent a pair of side plates connected to each other by the bars O, also by the shafts, on which are the rollers D, around which the rope E is carried and interwoven, as shown in Fig. 2, the purpose of which will presently be shown. F is a pair of corrugated movable .plates fitted to the inside of the sides A B, and between which the rope winds. Said plates are retained in position by the bars C', on which they slide when operated by the stems G, to the inner ends of which they are secured. To the lower bar C is attached a short leather thong, H, by a snap-hook, I. To said thong is attached, so as to be adjustable thereon, a pair of buckle-straps, J J', Fig. l.

Having described the construction of the above said fire-escape, the practical use of the same is as follows: Let it be supposed that a person is in the upper story of a building and the only way of escape therefrom is by way of the window; to do which by means of the above-described device the upper end A' of the rope is made fast to some article in the room, or to anything that will sustain the Weight of the person when suspended by the rope. The rope being made fast, the person then attaches himself to the thong, below the mechanism or shackle B', above described, by means of the straps J J', one of which is passed around the waist and the other around the limbs, as shown in Fig. l. The lower end of the rope is dropped from the window, or it may be coiled up and held by the person who descends therefrom by grasping the rope E and the thong H by the hand or hands, as shown in Fig. l. Theweight ofthe person will cause the rope to draw through the shackle withmore or less speed, as the two may be clasped together with more or less firmness by the hand. As the person descends the rope draws through the hand, and therefore it can be paid out as fast as the person may wish to descend. Should the weight of the person be so great as to cause the rope to run too fast, or so that his descent cannot be controlled by the hand grasping the rope and thong, and

therefore peril his descent, such danger is provided for by the plates F, which may be forced inward against the rope 'by the hand of the person, who grasps the shackle and presses on the stems G, thereby clamping the rope between the corrugated plates, which will, if so desired, completely arrest the play of the rope through the shackle, and hold the person suspended at any particular distance from the ground, or descend slowly or swiftly, as may be required.

I do not confine myself to any particular l Witnesses W. H. BURRIDGE, J. H. BUREIDGE. 

